1921 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1921 to Wales and its people.

← 1920 1919 1918 1917 1916 1921 in Wales → 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926
Centuries:	18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s
See also:	List of years in Wales 1921 in The United Kingdom Ireland Scotland

Incumbents

• Prince of Wales - Edward
• Princess of Wales – vacant
• Archbishop of Wales – Alfred George Edwards, Bishop of St Asaph
• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Dyfed

Events

• 26 January - The Abermule train collision claims 17 lives,[1] including that of the chairman of the rail company, Lord Herbert Vane-Tempest.
• 18 February - by-election: Ernest Evans becomes Liberal MP for Cardiganshire, winning the seat vacated by Matthew Vaughan-Davies, 1st Baron Ystwyth, on the latter's elevation to the peerage.[2]
• 7 March - Francis Edward Mostyn is appointed Roman Catholic Archbishop of Cardiff.[3]
• 1 April - Alfred Mond becomes Minister of Health.[4]
• 1 April–28 June - Lockout in the coal mining industry; A. J. Cook, the miner's leader, is sentenced to two months’ imprisonment for "inciting to unlawful assembly".[5]
• 4 June - Cardiologist Thomas Lewis is awarded a knighthood in King George V's Birthday Honours.[6]
• December - Leslie Morris becomes a founder member of the Communist Party of Canada.
• date unknown
  • The Anglo-Persian Oil Company Limited begins work on the UK's first oil refinery at Llandarcy.
  • Last copper smelting in the Lower Swansea valley.
  • Hugh Robert Jones founds the Byddin Ymreolaeth Cymru (“Home Rule Army”), which forms the basis for the development of Plaid Cymru.[7]
  • John Bodvan Anwyl is appointed secretary of the Welsh dictionary project sponsored by the Board of Celtic Studies of the University of Wales.

Arts and literature

Awards

• National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Caernarfon)
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - Robert John Rowlands, "Min y Môr"[8]
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - Albert Evans-Jones

English language

• Edwin Sidney Hartland - Primitive Society
• Evan Frederic Morgan, 2nd Viscount Tredegar - Trial by Ordeal[9]
• Margaret Haig Thomas, Viscountess Rhondda - D. A. Thomas, Viscount Rhondda, by his Daughter and Others
• Francis Brett Young - The Black Diamond

Welsh language

• Edward Tegla Davies - Tir Y Dyneddon
• John Evan Davies - Blodau'r Grug
• Moelona - Y Wers Olaf[10]

New drama

• Saunders Lewis - The Eve of St John

Music

• Ivor Novello & Dion Titheradge - "And Her Mother Came Too"
• The composer Peter Warlock returns to the family home at Cefn-bryntalch Hall, near Abermule, where he will stay until June 1924.

Film

• A teenage Roger Livesey makes his screen debut in The Four Feathers and in the same year appears in a film version of Where the Rainbow Ends.[11]

Broadcasting

Sport

• Cricket - Glamorgan CCC is admitted to crickets County Championship competition for the first time.

Births

• 5 February (in Birkenhead) - Marion Eames, novelist (d. 2007)[12]
• 16 February - Bob Evans, rugby union international (d. 2003)
• 19 March - Tommy Cooper, comedian (d. 1984)[13]
• 3 March - David James, cricketer (d. 2002)
• 21 March - Antony Hopkins, composer, pianist, conductor and broadcaster (d. 2014)[14]
• 4 April - Eileen Beasley, teacher and campaigner (d. 2012)[15]
• 9 April - Jack Jones, footballer (d. 2001)[16]
• 6 May - Ted Morris, footballer (d. 2000)
• 21 May - Leslie Norris, poet (d. 2006)[17]
• 28 May - Rhys Probert, aeronautical engineer
• 4 June - Allen Forward, Wales international rugby union player (d. 1994)
• 8 June - Alwyn Williams, geologist (d. 2004)[18]
• 28 June - R. Tudur Jones, theologian (d. 1998)[19]
• 16 August - Roger Ashton (footballer), footballer (d. 1985)
• 31 August - Raymond Williams, academic and writer (d. 1988)[20]
• 8 September - Sir Harry Secombe, entertainer (d. 2001)[21]
• 13 September - Handel Greville, Wales international rugby union player
• 15 September - Billy Cleaver, Wales international rugby union player and colliery manager (d. 2003)
• 12 October - Kenneth Griffith, actor and director (d. 2006)[22]
• 3 October – Graham Davies, footballer (d. 2003)
• 18 October – Billy James, footballer (d. 1980)
• 17 December - Ron Davies, photographer (d. 2013)
• 21 December - T. Harri Jones, poet and academic (d. 1965)[23]

Deaths

• 11 February - William Evans (Tonyrefail), minister and author, 82
• 25 February - John Thomas of Llanwrtyd, composer, 81
• 29 April - Billy Matthews, footballer, 37/38
• 6 June - James Havard Thomas, sculptor, 66[24]
• 5 July - Alfred Onions, politician, 62[25]
• 13 July - Emily Davies, educationist, 90[26]
• 21 July - Tom Deacon - Wales international rugby union player
• 27 July
  • John Jones (Myrddin Fardd), author, 85[27]
  • (in London) - James Winstone, miners' leader and politician, 58[28]
• 6 August (in Ilfracombe) - Sir David Brynmor Jones QC, lawyer and historian, 68 or 69[29]
• 23 August (in Oswestry) - Francis Jayne, bishop and academic, 76[30]
• 31 August (in Coorparoo, Queensland) - Thomas Rees, mayor of Brisbane, Australia, 76
• 3 October - William Rhys-Herbert, composer, conductor, organist and pianist, 53
• 9 October - Gwyneth Bebb, lawyer, 31[31]
• 11 October - Willie Thomas, Wales international rugby captain, 55
• 12 November - Edward Windsor Richards, engineer, 90[32]
• 15 December - Hopkin Maddock, Wales international rugby player, 40
• 16 December - Owen Morgan, journalist, 85[33]
• 21 December - Joseph Morewood Staniforth, editorial cartoonist, 57 or 58[34]

See also

• 1921 in Northern Ireland

References

1. The Engineer. Morgan-Grampian (Publishers). 1922. p. 22.
2. F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results, 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1949 p550
3. Chris Larsen (1 April 2016). Catholic Bishops of Great Britain: A Reference to Roman Catholic Bishops from 1850 to 2015. Sacristy Press. p. 290. ISBN 978-1-910519-25-7.
4. Cameron Hazlehurst; Sally Whitehead; Christine Woodland (1996). A Guide to the Papers of British Cabinet Ministers 1900-1964. Cambridge University Press. pp. 270. ISBN 978-0-521-58743-3.
5. Gleanings and Memoranda. 1928. p. 507.
6. "No. 32346". The London Gazette (Supplement). 4 June 1921. p. 4531.
7. Meic Stephens (1986). Cydymaith i lenyddiaeth Cymru. Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru. ISBN 978-0-7083-0915-5.
8. "Winners of the Chair". National Eisteddfod of Wales. 3 October 2019.
9. Meic Stephens (April 1986). The Oxford companion to the literature of Wales. Oxford University Press. p. 406.
10. Welsh Bibliographical Society (March 1932). The Journal of the Welsh Bibliographical Society. Welsh Bibliographical Society. p. 275.
11. James Robert Parish (1977). Film Actors Guide. Scarecrow Press. p. 343.
12. J. Beverley Smith. "Eames, Marion Griffith (Williams, Gwladys Marion Griffith) (1921-2007), historical novelist". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
13. John Fisher (2006). Tommy Cooper: Always Leave Them Laughing. HarperCollins Entertainment. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-00-721510-2.
14. Hewett, Ivan (6 May 2014). "Antony Hopkins obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
15. Stephens, Meic (29 September 2012). "Eileen Beasley: Welsh language campaigner". The Independent. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
16. "Jack Jones". Neil Brown. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
17. James A. Davies (1991). Leslie Norris. University of Wales Press. p. 10.
18. Brunton, Howard (23 April 2004). "Sir Alwyn Williams (obituary)". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 18 December 2009.
19. D. Densil Morgan. "Jones, Robert Tudur (1921-1998), theologian, church historian and public figure". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
20. Fred Inglis (23 June 2005). Raymond Williams. Routledge. p. 17. ISBN 1-134-66238-6.
21. "Sir Harry Secombe". The Telegraph. 12 April 2001. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
22. Lawrence Goldman (7 March 2013). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 2005-2008. OUP Oxford. p. 461. ISBN 978-0-19-967154-0.
23. Mary Auronwy James. "Jones, Thomas Henry (Harri; 1921 - 1965), lecturer and poet". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
24. Clausen, George. "James Havard Thomas." In Memorial Exhibition of Sculpture and Drawings by the Late J. Havard Thomas (1845–1921). London: Leicester Galleries, 1922, 5–10.
25. Who was who: A Companion to Who's Who, Containing the Biographies of Those who Died During the Period ... A. & C. Black. 1929. p. 797.
26. Walter Yust (1954). Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica. p. 83.
27. William Rowlands. "JONES, JOHN (Myrddin Fardd; 1836-1921), writer, antiquary, and collector of old letters and manuscripts". Welsh Biography Online. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
28. Huw Morris-Jones. "Winstone, James (1863-1921), miners' leader in South Wales". Welsh Biography Online. Retrieved 8 November 2019.
29. The Law Times. Office of The Law Times. 1922. p. 108.
30. Price, D. T. W (January 2007). "Jayne, Francis John (1845–1921)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online edition, subscription access). Oxford University Press. Retrieved 11 February 2008.
31. Woman's Leader. 1921. p. 474.
32. Wilkins, Charles (1903), History of the Iron, Steel, Tinplate and Other Trades of Wales, Cambridge University Press, pp. 201–2, ISBN 978-1-108-02693-2 (published digitally in 2011)
33. Robert Thomas Jenkins. "Morgan, Owen (Morien; 1836?-1921), journalist and miscellaneous writer". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
34. Laurel Brake; Chandrika Kaul; Mark W. Turner (16 March 2016). The News of the World and the British Press, 1843-2011: 'Journalism for the Rich, Journalism for the Poor'. Springer. p. 135. ISBN 978-1-137-39205-3.